The recent plowing of highway 20 and sunny spring weather opened up a large area of easy access backcountry skiing this month. The Birthday Tour is an extremely popular one-day backcountry ski adventure in Washington State's Washington Pass.
The Birthday TourClick on the Map to See a Larger Image
Four skiers from Bellingham Mountain Rescue and a few friends saw stellar weather in the forecast last week and took the opportunity to ski the Birthday Tour. The hardest part was finding a place to park in the very popular Washington Pass area, as many skiers headed for the backcountry.
Leaving a car west of the pass, we started at the Blue Lake trailhead and skinned up to the col south of Early Winters Spires. The rugged scenery was spectacular with a fresh coat of new snow. The thin clouds allowed a perfect panorama of the distant peaks.
Snow made for great skiing above 6700 feet. It was a little bit mushy below that. It was the first time any of us had done the route but it was definitely unlikely to be the last. We discovered a fantastic new playground!
Glad to be back to the route after a long day of skiing in the sun.
The ascent just south of Liberty Bell is nice and wide, offering many options for grade selection.
AAI guide Jeff Ries pause to rest and admire the scenery after skiing part of the way down form the col.
Nice wide slopes make it easy to find untracked snow near Copper Pass
Time to skin up again for another run
Spectacular scenery and good friends makes for a memorable ski tour--Jeff Reis, AAI Backpacking Guide
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